April 17, 2008
Tickets available today for Black Panthers program
Free tickets are available today at the Henry Art Gallery admissions desk for a panel discussion on the Black Panthers slated for 7 p.m. Thursday, April 24 at the gallery. The program is in conjunction with a photo exhibit in Odegaard Library, Black Panthers: Making Sense of History.
Titled “When Words are not Enough: The University of Washington and the Black Panther Party,” the panel discussion includes King County Council member Larry Gossett, Seattle activist and co-founder of the Seattle Black Panther Party Chapter Aaron Dixon, Coordinator of the Seattle Black Panther Party History and Memory project Janet Jones and UW Vice Provost for Minority Affairs and Diversity Sheila Edwards Lange. UW History Professor James Gregory will moderate.
The exhibit, which will be in Odegaard through May 31, features 47 photographs taken by Stephen Shames, who had unprecedented access to the Black Panther Party during the height of the Civil Rights movement, from 1967 to 1973. He captured not only the party’s public face –street demonstrations, protests, and militant armed posturing — but also unscripted behind-the-scenes moments, from private party meetings held in its headquarters to Bobby Seale at work on his mayoral campaign in Oakland.
The exhibit coincides with the 40th anniversary of diversity efforts on the UW campus, which included the student takeover of then President Charles Odegaard’s office. These diversity activities resulted in the formation of one of the first Black Student Unions in the United States. The Seattle Chapter of the Black Panther Party played an instrumental role in these activities.
Photographer and author Shames will conduct a walk-through exhibit presentation at 4 p.m. Friday, April 25. Odegaard has also been running a Black Panthers film series from noon to 1 p.m. on Mondays in Room 220; films continue through May 19.
The exhibit is sponsored by the Aperture Foundation, Friends of the UW Libraries, and the UW Libraries. The panel program is sponsored by the aforementioned exhibit sponsors, and the Henry Art Gallery and the UW Office of Minority Affairs and Diversity. Shames is appearing courtesy of the Aperture Foundation.
